Friday 5.9
Chris Farley Remembered
Wisconsin Historical Museum
This exhibit honors the late comedian, a Madison native whose local ties can be felt in the Edgewood High School football jersey on display. You can also see costumes and props from movies like Black Sheep and Beverly Hills Ninja, not to mention the pièce de résistance: his tacky Matt Foley costume from Saturday Night Live. There will also be brilliant clips from SNL to remind you what all the fuss is about.
Bike to Work Week
Through May 16
A week of special events promotes pedal power, tempting would-be riders with free goodies at bike shops and bike paths. Highlights include an art-bike rally on the Capitol Square (Saturday, May 10, 11 am) and a final fiesta at the Vilas Park Shelter (Friday, May 16, 4 pm).
Mulan Jr.
Bartell Theatre, 9:30 am & 7 pm. Also Thursday (12:30 & 7 pm) & Saturday (7 pm), May 8 & 10
MadCAP presents a theatrical version of the Disney movie, in which a Chinese girl defies the elders by joining the army.
Circus Celebrations
Chazen Museum of Art, May 9 & 10
The Chazen plans two days of big-top activities in conjunction with its shows "Ringmaster: Judy Onofrio and the Art of the Circus" and "Harry A. Atwell, Circus Photographer." On Friday, Onofrio discusses her circus-inspired sculptures at 6 pm, followed by a Big Top Gala at 7 pm, featuring acrobats, contortionists and a circus band. On Saturday's free Circus Day (noon-4 pm), families can enjoy performances by the Mazo Movement Arts Center, Cycropia Aerial Dance, Truly Remarkable Loon and others.
Walking With Dinosaurs: The Live Experience
Alliant Energy Center Coliseum, 7 pm. Also Saturday (11 am, 3 & 7 pm) & Sunday (1 & 5 pm), May 10 & 11
A Tyrannosaurus rex, a Stegosaurus and other roaring, agile, life-size dino re-creations stomp into Madison as part of a touring show based on the BBC TV series. It traces the dinosaurs' evolution, treating wide-eyed kids and parents to the spectacle of oceans forming, volcanoes erupting and a comet striking earth.
Lucia di Lammermoor
Overture Center's Overture Hall, 8 pm. Also Sunday, May 11, 2:30 pm
Madison Opera presents Donizetti's tale of madness and suicide, the horror counterbalanced by Italian lyricism at its most poignant.
Margot & the Nuclear So & So's
Orpheum Theatre's Stage Door, 9 pm
How much more indie can a band from Indy, allegedly named after Gwyneth Paltrow's character in The Royal Tenenbaums and known for generating "measured freakouts" on stage be? Fans heartbroken by the cancellation of Matt Pond PA a couple weeks ago will be cheered by this all-ages show. Cameron McGill and Jentri Colello open.
The Avett Brothers
High Noon Saloon, 9:30 pm
The North Carolinians play acoustic music that's informed by bluegrass, but doesn't hew closely to that genre's sometimes stifling ground rules. The group's secret weapon is the big singing of Seth Avett. Jessica Lea Mayfield opens.
Saturday 5.10
Cars on State
State Street, 10 am-3 pm
Vintage Lincoln Continentals and Corvettes gleam on State Street. You get a fingerprint on that shiny finish, you die.
Madison Area Music Awards
Barrymore Theatre. Red carpet: 6 pm. Show: 7 pm. After parties: Harmony Bar, Mr. Roberts, Brink Lounge, Great Dane-Downtown
The MAMAs is an awards show that hands out honors for song of the year, artist of the year, etc. But it's also a dream concert, bringing together such performers as the Motorz, the Westside Andy/Mel Ford Band, Stephanie Rearick, Dear August, Profound, Jessi Lynn Band and the Pale Young Gentlemen.
8889
High Noon Saloon, 6 pm
Those wondering where the Madison pop-rockers have been hiding should have checked the recording studio. The band will venture out locally for the first time since 2006 to release their second full-length effort, Zoology, at a happy-hour blowout along with indie/western swing duo the Cowboy & the Frenchman.
Todd Carey and Alexa Wilkinson and Jonathan Clay
Café Montmartre, 9:30 pm
Each of these cheerful rootsy/poppy singer-songwriters has a song that wouldn't be out of place backing a video montage on One Tree Hill. Carey, Wilkinson and Clay combine forces for the "Three of Hearts" tour, perhaps a reference to each performer's ability to conjure earnest love songs.
Scream Club
High Noon Saloon, 9:30 pm
After skating for the roller-derby league championship, the Mad Rollin' Dolls will compare bruises accompanied by the theatrical punk of Screamin' Cyn Cyn & the Pons and Olympia's Scream Club, described as "Electro-Hip-Pop-Punk-Rock-Feminist-Glam."
The Kills
The Annex, 9:30 pm
Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince can be one of the noisiest duos out there (as anyone who remembers a deafening show at the Anchor Inn can attest), combining catchy songs with rockabilly-via-Velvet Underground guitar and Cabaret Voltaire clank. They cross the pond from London once again to rattle the walls, with Brooklyn's Telepathe in tow.
Sunday 5.11
Wisconsin Chamber Choir
Trinity Lutheran Church, 4 pm
The choir performs a century-hopping program that includes music by Bach, Schubert and Bruckner. The highlight should be the world premiere of "We're All Here" (revised version) by Wisconsin composer-made-good Daron Hagen.
New Monsoon and Run Side Down
Majestic Theatre, 8 pm
Run Side Down are just returning from a tour that took the locals west to the jam-band hotbed of Boulder, Colo. They open for New Monsoon, a crew with Haight-Ashbury bona fides.
